


We Found Them Behind a Pizza Place

by Databuffer



Series: RDC Monster AU [3]
Category: Transformers - All Media Types, Transformers: Beast Wars
Genre: (not from RDC. Promise. Its something else), Adopted Children, Alien/Human Relationships, Alternate Universe - Creatures & Monsters, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, M/M, Minor Violence, Mutual Pining, Past Torture, Pining, Unethical Experimentation, Welcome to gay fool fish monster soap opera, slowburn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-16
Updated: 2020-03-13
Packaged: 2020-09-01 22:43:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 12,193
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20265703
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Databuffer/pseuds/Databuffer
Summary: X has been happily moved into Depth Charge’s life for a month. Safe from Omicron, while Depth Charge works to clear his name, and ensure they can live a far more peaceful life.However complications come in the form of a witness, and the discovery of another monster that requires their help: Transmutate.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Placeholder title because I can’t figure anything out right now, but I want to get this out here already.

Depth Charge was on the hunt again. The weight of his tranquilizer gun familiar in his hands, as he stalked the darkened streets. 

His trained eyes scanned his surroundings, honing in on minute traces. An odd scratch, left by a distinct set of claws, here. A tuft of fur scraped off against the course brick wall there. They were sparse. Mere traces of the frantic beast that had hurriedly fled from the hunter’s pursuit, but enough to let Depth Charge know he was on the right track. Currently, that trail he was following, ducked off of the main street, into a narrow side passage between two buildings. 

He had managed to nail his mark with a tranq dart, while it was preoccupied with investigating the unfamiliar urban setting. However it didn’t go down easy. They never did, unless you used dangerous levels of sedative. It bolted. 

Unnatural speed was its strong suit. One it had used to its full advantage despite its drunken state.

But at this point in the trail, his target was on its last legs. That was obvious, the trail was becoming increasingly prominent. The tracks were wobbly. Veering from side to side at random. Stumbling around, and trying to find a place to hide. Now it was just a test of finding where it ended up. 

Depth Charge stopped moving to examine a concerning smear of blood on the pavement. He crouched low, and then, with his silence, he was able to hear the sound of someone else walking - something walking - the footsteps were heavy, but slow. Claws quietly clicked against the asphalt, giving away the monstrous identity of his pursuer. Fear prickled up for a moment, before training took over. 

Depth Charge didn’t hesitate. 

He swung around quickly. Lining the barrel of the rifle right up to the face of the approaching monster, who was far closer than Depth Charge had assumed. Mere feet away. The monster looked like he’d been anticipating it, but was quick to raise his hands in surrender all the same. His face bearing a look of amusement, as he stared down at the agent. _ His _ agent. 

It was X. 

Harmless - and sticking out like a sore thumb, between the reflectiveness of his visor, and the bright white shirt he was wearing. 

“Well, you’ve caught me. Only took you three blocks, hunter.” he greeted. Depth Charge responded by sighing heavily, and twisting the rifle in his grip. Smacking X in the leg with the side of the stock. X, of course, barely felt a thing. It was almost annoying how much effort it took to bother him. 

“You scared me! What if I shot you?” 

“Well then, you’d just have to carry me home, wouldn’t you?” X playfully answered, before falling in. Crouching down beside Depth Charge, to see what he’d been examining. Depth Charge shifted over to accommodate him. “Not that I would mind of course, being carried in your arms would be a dream come true. Perhaps I need to sneak up on you more often…” He continued dreamily. Leaning against the agent. Depth Charge honestly couldn’t tell if he was joking, or genuine. Either way, it broke his mood a bit. He cracked a smile, despite himself.

“Then I’ll be sure to drag you by your legs.” He promised, shoving X off, to finally lean down and examine the streak of blood he’d meant to examine in the first place. 

X grumbled his disappointment, but it went ignored as Depth Charge started collecting the sample for testing. Resting his rifle on his knees, as he began scraping the trace of viscera off the ground into a small glass tube. X leaned in closer, gave a quick sniff, and offered his insight.

“It belongs to an animal. A… rat, I believe.” So, Depth Charge abandoned the task, he shoved the small box of tools back into his jacket, and got back up to his feet with a quick thanks. 

It was nice to be saved effort sometimes. 

Well, with X around, it was more than just ‘sometimes’. Despite how risky it was to bring X along on hunts in more populated areas, his skills were undeniable. He was a hunter, down to his core. His senses were basically made for the job. He was invaluable. But again, dangerous. Depth Charge was putting his career in further jeopardy, every moment he spent with X. (Something he was working to fix)

Invaluable, yes, but X had left the house, and walked here. That, was absolutely TOO much of a risk. He’d meant to scold X for it before, but X’s flirting had distracted him...

“You shouldn’t be out.” The hunter finally accused. “Someone could’ve seen you.” Depth Charge continued. 

X was predictably unphased. “Oh, nobody saw me, there’s no need to worry. I was careful.”

“Yeah? I saw you.”

“_ You _ were looking!” X reminded.

“Oh yeah, I’m sure it’s only that, it has nothing to do with how loud you are, or what you’re wearing. Really X? Shorts and a tshirt while you’re trying to be stealthy? Do you want everyone to see your fins, and gills?” Depth Charge challenged, turning to punch his shoulder lightly. 

“They’re comfortable.” X responded, quitely, but indignantly. At the mention, he lifted an arm to examine the one of fins along the limb. Currently laid flat, appearing to be nothing more than a set of spikes. Still quite obvious, despite it. They made his silhouette quite distinct, and Depth Charge got the feeling he was realizing the same himself.

X shook his head. “Whatever. We’re on a hunt. I’m here, even though I shouldn’t be. Not much I can do to change that now. So where might our new friend be hiding?” 

As much as Depth Charge wanted to continue arguing, X was right. Making him walk back alone was not a solution, they just needed to finish up and head back together. Nothing else could be done. Still, he disapproved. 

“I got a tranquilizer in the monster, it took off. It's definitely unconscious by now, but I have no idea how far it could have gotten. Its uh… somewhere this way.” He explained with a gesture, to further down, where the alley gave way to a parking lot, populated with a few fast food restaurants, and stores. 

It was when Depth Charge took those into account, that he put together why X had revealed himself after successfully staying hidden so long. He was probably hungry.

“Anyway, can you follow the trail or not?”

“I can, just… give me a moment. The air is crowded here…” X trailed off, ambling ahead, his head swiveling slowly, and his mouth partially opened to properly smell his surroundings. 

Depth Charge, grimaced, and crossed his arms over his gun. “Crowded? There aren’t people here, are there?” 

“I mean there's a lot of scents. A lot of garbage, cars from different places…” He paused tangibly. Glancing back over to Depth Charge. “Lots of food too. It smells fresh too… the kitchens might still be open.” 

Depth Charge rolled his eyes.

“We’ll get something on the ride back.” Depth Charge promised. X looked a little too smug, for the agent’s liking. So he added on. “Or maybe not… I’m not sure if I want to reward bad behavior.” in an instant the smugness was gone. 

X returned to sniffing the air, and a few moments after, he nodded, with a quick “I think I have it...” X picked up the pace. Leaving the safety of the dark alley, as he marched up into the shopping plaza ahead. Depth Charge close behind, of course. Vigilantly checking for signs of life himself. Human, or otherwise. Thankfully, it was a ghost town. He could count all the cars here on one hand. All of which were most likely night shift employees, that Depth Charge took solace in knowing would be no threat. 

While Depth Charge was scanning the area, X was doing the same. He wasn’t just ‘tasting’ their prey, like he usually did. He was more thorough. He was checking every corner, and every hiding spot. It was about the same pace Depth Charge would have done it, much to his annoyance. Too slow, for how out in the open they were putting him. Depth Charge didn’t appreciate tempting fate like this. 

“Come on, we have to get it before it wakes up.” Depth Charge reminded with a nudge, after they took their sweet time stalking around the second fast food restaurant in the parking lot. He found himself doubting X had caught the scent at all. He was starting to consider the possibility that X was just scouting out dumpsters, and planning a grand return to his old garbage eating habits. 

“I’d like to see you taste such muddled flavors, with my accuracy, while everything reeks of garbage, and tastes of grease!” X growled right back. “Your sleep darts dull emotions, you know.”

“And what exactly do you want me to do about that? Want me to just try and handcuff it next time?” Depth Charge countered, to which X replied with a mere sound of uncertainty, and a shrug. 

Then he stopped so abruptly that Depth Charge nearly walked right into him. He turned, staring off at barren parking lot, appearing startled enough in his suddenness that the agent had made a grab for his gun. Ready to aim it to the emptiness. Fearing the worst.

“...what is it?” Depth Charge asked after a beat. 

“I believe there’s actually two monsters here.” X whispered in answer. Contrastingly solemn to their previous argument. Concerned, even. 

“Shit… shit, okay. Let's keep our focus on one thing at a time. We’ll deal with it later.” Depth Charge took a step. X remained still.

“No. We can’t, the taste is getting more distant. I’m going to go find it, before I lose it. you keep searching for your creature.” X pointed to the next building down. “It's somewhere over that way.” 

The second X took a step, to follow his plan, Depth Charge grabbed him by his collar, yanking him back into place. 

“No! We’re not splitting up.” Depth Charge ordered harshly. X tensed. For a moment, it seemed like X would just ignore him, and shove him off. Depth Charge checked himself, and tamped down the aggression. But he still really hated the idea. 

“One at a time. We get ours, then that other one. You’ll definitely catch the scent again. We’ll check it out, promise.” It was an unnecessary risk. Not to mention it had almost nothing to do with their assignment… but if there was another monster loose in the area, it would be best to at least get a picture, to report it in.

He tried to take a step back into the right direction, pulling X behind him, but he didn’t budge.

“What? Do you want to do it the hard way? By all means, if you want to challenge some mystery monster without backup, go ahead. Get your arm ripped off. Get caught.” 

X finally looked back to Depth Charge. He rolled his head, his best attempt at simulating a roll of the eyes. Accompanying the gesture, was a heaved, dramatic sigh.

“Fine.” X finally conceded. Allowing himself to be pulled back into the mission he had almost abandoned. He was clearly in a hurry now. The human trailing behind had to jog to keep up with the pace, as X tore past the remaining storefront, before looping around to the back. Within five minutes, they finally had their quarry. The monster was sprawled out, barely visible, from behind a row of dumpsters it evidently had tried to take shelter among before losing consciousness. 

X took it upon himself to lift a dumpster up, and out of the way, before the agent could even request he do so. Depth Charge turned in a quick circle, as he started to survey the scene when X slammed the dumpster back down with a crash, and a delighted laugh. 

“This is the thing that caused you so much trouble?! Oh, my dear, I regret to inform you, you’re losing your touch!” X mocked.

Depth Charge frowned.

“It was fast.” Was all the response he gave, as he knelt down beside the thing.

“Just fast? No invisibility? No teleporting? Just fast?”

“It was _ very _ fast. It covered all this ground in five minutes or so.” He answered. “I’ve still got it. There's nothing I could have done to keep it from running.” He reassured again. Mostly to himself. 

Well maybe he could have cornered it by a dead end, or… or brought X, but that was beside the point. 

“I’d like to see you keep pace with something that can run 50 miles per hour.” Was it exaggerating? He couldn’t remember. It _ felt _ like 50 miles per hour. He shook his head, and moved onto unfolding its cage to be usable. 

The monster was small. Quadrupedal, with long stilted legs. It reminded him of a deer in build, but apparently it was carnivorous, and alien. Honestly it looked rather normal, aside from the claws it sported.

He paused his examination only to pull out the empty dart from its flank.

He held it up. “Could someone who’s lost his touch hit a tiny target like this?!” the agent challenged triumphantly. 

No answer. Not even a chuckle or a hum. 

“Damn it.” He growled. Turning around, to - as he’d predicted - no one behind him. 

“Great!” The agent hissed.

<hr></hr>

X had wanted to stick around. It would have been so delightful to tease his Depth Charge a bit more but alas, he was in a hurry. He wanted to inform Depth Charge he was going to head off, but if he said something, that would’ve meant being delayed. The situation was too urgent for that. 

He had noted the taste of his fellow monster getting further, and further away. So distant, and faint, he could barely place it any longer. He was annoyed with himself for having taken so long, that he didn’t waste any more time when the taste surged back to him. This time, heightened by the sharp bitterness of pain, and shock.

Urgent indeed. 

X wasn’t being drawn in by the thrill of the hunt, as was the case with most other monsters him and Depth Charge chased together. It was curiosity. This monster was… different. There was a complexity to the taste of its emotions. A multifaceted depth, that X had previously associated with just humans. But here it was. A creature, its taste so clearly not human, yet it beared that mark… how interesting.

X believed - no, hoped - it was something like him. Aware, intelligent, and capable of communication. He didn’t really know why he wanted such a thing. He didn’t crave companionship, really. Depth Charge was enough for him. Perhaps it was just that he wanted to know if he was all alone. Depth Charge had said Omicron dealt with intelligent monsters exclusively, yet X had never met one. Depth Charge had mentioned there were more of his kind, yet X had never known anything but solitude. 

Now, the thought that he could be one of a kind certainly didn’t pain him. But it definitely prodded his curiosity sufficiently enough to seek an answer. 

So here he was. Following the monster’s trail.

Pain was easy to track, as was fear. And in this case, both were palpable. He followed it clear across the parking lot. Eventually finding himself behind a strip of buildings. Walking between precariously stacked piles of crates, and boxes of cardboard. Tasting their air carefully as he went. Until finally he saw them.

He saw the blood first, as much as he disliked the unwelcome insight to himself it offered. He saw it, trickling down the side of a cage in thin streams. Drawn from where the trap had violently sprung. The door of it clamped down on a small leg, unfortunately caught in its path. Inside was a similarly small form. Frozen, as they stared up at the massive figure looming over them.

X met their wide red eyes, and the taste of fear stopped entirely. It allowed him to taste the other emotions underneath. The overwhelming curiosity, the hope, and then… below that, warmth. Familiarity. 

He didn’t know how to respond for a moment. It was so soft, and innocent, and - he blinked in recognition, as it came together. They were a child. 

Soon, he was mirroring those same emotions. 

“Hello, little one.” X finally greeted, after watching in silence for what felt to be a moment too long. He remained mindful of softening the natural growl of his voice. Not wanting to scare them. When no more fear was rekindled by his words (the opposite actually, they seemed comforted), X approached. Walking up slowly, to drop to a crouch before the cage, in slow movements.

Now close enough to properly observe them, X noted their claws. The folded fins along their arms, and their cheeks. The pale grey color to their skin. Those large red eyes, that were far too wide to be attributed to a human. They looked over him in turn. Perhaps piecing together the same conclusion.

X lifted his arm. Flexing the fin along it, and spreading his claws, in display. The resemblance was uncanny. The shape, and placement of the fins, to the curvature of the claws. There was only one explanation. 

“You’re like me…” his words were answered with a silent smile, and the sugary sweet taste of happiness. Then they shifted slightly, and pain quickly overwrote it all. 

X’s chest tightened in sympathy. Then in anger. 

Who would do this..?

For a moment, upon first seeing the situation, X had debated just taking the cage to Depth Charge, injury and all. But that plan was swiftly discarded. The thought of them in pain for a moment longer was dreadful. The monster took the cage into his hands. Claws wedging between the gap in the gate, currently held open by their new friend’s leg. There was a flicker of fear, that made X freeze. 

“You’re safe, little one. This might be a bit scary, but I won’t hurt you. I would never hurt you. That, I promise.” His tone was softer than he’d intended, but he meant them all the same. 

Then the fear was gone, replaced by another smile, X started pulling. Ripping the door open. The second there was enough of a gap, the leg quickly retreated safely into the cage, with the taste of surprise, and gratitude.

He didn’t even consider leaving them just like that. He kept ripping, until the metal groaned in protest, and the walls of it trembled. With one last harsh tug, he snapped the gate clean off the hinge with a violent snap. He tossed it aside like the offensive junk it was. 

They marveled up at him. Mouth slightly agape in awe. 

“Impressive?” X offered with a soft laugh. They nodded quickly. He was relieved to finally have proof that they could understand him. 

Without further ado, X reached into the cage, carefully scooping up the wide eyed form with two careful hands. They grabbed onto him, in turn. Clinging to him like he was a lifeline. Claws hooked in, to better grip. Not that he would ever complain about such a thing. He pulled them close to himself protectively. Looking down at them in wonder. 

He couldn’t wait to introduce them to Depth Charge.

They were roughly the size of a human child. He couldn’t remember enough about humans to hazard a guess at their age. He knew even less about his own species. Admittedly, he was a bit out of his league… but, they were young. He could tell that much. 

“What's your name, my friend?” he asked.

They shrugged slowly.

“Do you not have a name?” 

They shook their head. 

“Hm. Then we’ll have to figure something out, won’t we?” He took a step away. Kicking the wreckage of the cruel trap out of the way as he went. “My name is X.”

“X?” His friend repeated back to him. 

“Indeed -“ A door creaking open snapped X back to world around him. 

He hadn’t stopped to consider anyone else being here. His senses had become so hyper focused on his friend, that he had barely tasted another presence. X took a quick few steps towards a stack of pallets, hoping to get to cover before it was too late, but alas, it already was. 

A human, stood in the door, holding a bat in one hand, and an unlit flashlight in the other. His expression started at confusion, then evolved to terror in moments. 

“W-what are you?! What are you doing?!” came a choked out whimper. He tightened his grip on the bat. His eyes were blown wide with fear, He reeked of terror, but beneath that, it was clear he was trying - and mostly failing - to be courageous. 

X knew he should just run, but he didn’t. He was trying to recall what Depth Charge had instructed him to do in this type of situation. It boiled down to ‘don’t be scary, don’t let them call anyone, and wait for Depth Charge to come to his rescue.’ he could try… Or maybe he had already failed step one? 

“Oh, calm down.” X tried. 

“What did you do?!” The human demanded, louder, as his fear catalyzed into a righteous anger. He went ignored. Delightful.

The human grabbed onto the bat with both hands, dropping the flashlight entirely. Ready to fight. X couldn’t help the laugh that escaped him, despite the circumstances. The human thinking he could fight off X, with nothing but a piece of wood was funny. That being said, X absolutely did **not** want to fight right now. Trying to calm down the human seemed like it would be a lost cause, but… well, if he was fighting him, he wasn’t calling anyone was he? 

He’d made a promise to Depth Charge: no more killing. He’d just have to be gentle. Hospitalization wasn’t a crime, was it?

He tore himself from that thought quickly. No, no fighting. Not when his friend would be this close to harm’s way. It was unfamiliar to put this level of forethought and consideration into anything... 

“Back off.” X found himself growling despite the rising urge to just attack. He angled away, shifting so his bulk would shield his new friend. His instincts were screaming out to just make a move for the human. It would be quick. His stance was leaving his throat completely open. One swipe would be all it took. “I haven’t done anything, but that will change _ really _fast if you decide to hit us with that thing!” 

The taste of the human’s emotions pivoted, stunningly fast. “Wait…” confusion, regret. 

X saw him looking between the broken cage, and the figure in his arms, who was now leaning out precariously, in attempt to look past X, and observe. “... wait…” X grumbled his annoyance, then finally the human continued, after a brief flare of recognition. 

“Did you save them..?” The fear and anger faded remarkably quick. 

Finally. 

“Obviously! I saved them from you, and your trap!” In answer, there was a crushing wave of guilt, that even made the small bundle in his arms, flinch - wait - could they could sense emotions too..? Or were they simply reading facial cues?

“I - hold on, get inside, I’ll call an ambulance and -“ X’s regretted having looked away - why was he so easily distracted today!? The human was pressing buttons on his phone, and - 

“NO!”

X swiped for his hand, brutally fast. His claws met wrist, hard. He dug them in deep, carving into flesh, until the phone was dropped. Until he felt blood beginning to stream down his claws. Until the human let out a terrified, pained wail.

And of course, _ that _was the moment he finally detected Depth Charge, running up to them. 

“X! Stop, right now!” Both him, and the human flooded with relief, as he pulled his claws away. 

<hr></hr>

Depth Charge took everything in with a frantic look around. The poor night shift employee, looked horrified, as he held his bleeding wrist. He was taking a nervous step away from X, but he wasn’t running. That was good. The agent saw the discarded bat on the ground. The broken animal trap, with blood on it. X staring at him hopefully. And then perhaps most confusingly, a child, cradled in X’s arm, clinging to him tightly. 

He took a deep breath. Shaking off the fear of having to deal with a repeat of Omicron. This did nothing good to his trust in X, but at the very least, he was thankful there were no corpses. 

Not that a frightened witness was much of an improvement...

“X, go back to the car. Wait there.” X’s shoulders slumped in disappointment. 

“-but-“

“I mean it X. You can explain in a bit, but the last thing I need is you mauling a fucking cashier.” Depth Charge growled. X got the message, and stalked off with a huff. Child in hand.

The agent smeared a hand down his face. 

He regretted not making X leave behind the kid with him, but he’d figure that out next. For now…

He looked back at the man in front of him. The bleeding in his arm wasn’t nearly as bad as he’d first thought. X hadn’t gone for anything vital. Depth Charge knew that must have been intentional. X was devastating when he wanted to be.

“Uh-“ the man cleared his throat. thank you for saving -“

“Shut up.” He blinked in surprise when he was cut off by Depth Charge. “If you speak a word of what happened tonight, to anyone, we will ruin your life, understand?” 

The man swallowed hard, and nodded. Depth Charge almost felt bad. Almost

“Whats your name?” 

“S-Silverbolt.” he responded immediately. Depth Charge didn’t doubt the information. The name was stupid. Depth Charge was tempted to voice that opinion, but a glance back down to the man’s hand again persuaded him to mercifully keep this brief.

“So, Silverbolt, tonight you were just going out to check on your trap, but there was a racoon inside, and when you tried to open it, it bit you.” Depth Charge explained while Silverbolt continued to stare dumbly. “You did _ not _ see any monsters tonight, and you will _ not _be telling anyone about us, right?” 

“Y-yeah. Got it.”

“Good. Glad we’ve got that covered. Now tell me what happened here.” Depth Charge continued pressing. He bent down to grab Silverbolt’s phone off the pavement. The corner of it was cracked to hell.

“Uh- there was a racoon-“ Silverbolt began, only to be silenced by a glare. 

“No, idiot, what really happened?”

Silverbolt was silent for an infuriating moment. “... I… I don’t know if you’re testing me or not…”

“No! Just - okay, I need to know what happened so I can yell at -” _ don’t use X’s name _ “- m-my monster…” _ Oh he didn’t like that word choice. _ “So what did he do? Why did he attack you? Why is there blood everywhere?” 

“Oh, right. I… well… we’ve been uh… having raccoon problems for weeks, so my boss got a trap so we could catch it, and I think we caught the kid…” Silverbolt explained. “I think we hurt them, their leg looked all messed up and…” He shuddered. Guilt coming off of him in waves. He was certain X would’ve been able to smell it all they way from the van. 

“And he broke the cage, got them out, and decided to get revenge, or something?” Depth Charge attempted to finish.

“No, I assumed he was the one that hurt the kid, and tried to fight him off, to take a stand, to protect them, but I was… incorrect in my hasty judgement.” He took a deep breath. “It was I, who was the real monster tonight.” Depth Charge couldn’t help but roll his eyes at how obnoxiously dramatic he was being. “But he didn’t attack until I tried to help him... I do not know what you’re planning to do, but you need to get that kid to a doctor.” 

“Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it, but… let me guess, by help, you mean you suggested a doctor to him too?” He assumed, and Silverbolt nodded, seeming a bit surprised by the intuition.

Ah, that explained it. X hated when Depth Charge had to even go to a pharmacist. Doctors were on an entirely other level. Shouting, begging, trying to pin Depth Charge down, blocking off doors. All of it. Just so Depth Charge wouldn’t go. He was ridiculous. Terrified, and concerned, but filled with good intention.

At least the mystery was solved.

“Thank you for your time, and remember. A word of this to ANYONE, and you’ll have to answer to my entire agency. This is between us.” 

“What did you see tonight?”

“A racoon.” 

“Good.” Depth Charge passed the damaged phone back to Silverbolt, who gave a quick thanks, and took it in a bloody palm. Grimacing at the damage. 

“Also, I’m taking your trap.” Depth Charge threw over his shoulder, making a slight detour to grab both pieces. No blood could be left behind, incase Silverbolt slipped up.

“What? No! No, my boss…” Silverbolt began, only to trail off as he realized the futility of arguing. “okay…” 

“Its inhumane anyway! Where did your boss even get this?!”

With that, Depth Charge was walking off. Already working to mentally compile a list of questions for X. Starting with ‘why the hell would you steal a kid?!’ He didn’t get much further than that, when he was stopped. 

“Wait!” 

“What?” Depth Charge sighed.

“Your uh... monster…” he froze up on that word, as if hesitant to use the term. Depth Charge could understand the feeling “... he wouldn’t hurt them, right?” Silverbolt hesitantly asked. 

Depth Charge was tempted to shrug him off, say that was none of his business, but… that look of genuine concern got him. So, he had a bit more mercy, and told Silverbolt what he wanted. The truth.

“Never.” Depth Charge recalled all the times X had protected him, with a fond smile. Sure. He was rough, but he was also gentle, and kind where it counted. He had no doubt that a child would be safe with him. He was more worried where the kid came from. “If he decides he likes someone, then being with him is being in the safest place in the world.” 

Silverbolt let out a deep breath he seemed to have been holding. Put at ease. Immediately Depth Charge wanted to scold himself for sounding so soft, and… mushy. Instead, he scolded Silverbolt. 

“Now go to a goddamn hospital already, kid.”

<hr></hr>

Depth Charge stalked up to the van, his previously dropped capture crate, now in hand. By some miracle, his target was still out like a light. He’d assumed a small, fast creature like it would quickly metabolize the tranquilizer. He was happy to be proven wrong, though it definitely wouldn’t remain that way for much longer. They would have to listen to whines and scratching the whole way. It was going to be a long ride, for him and X.

Correction, him, X, _ and _ that kid X had nabbed off the street… 

As if he didn’t have enough headaches already...

The agent popped open the back of the van. Inside, X. Tucked into the back, with the kid still curled up in his arms. He’d been talking to them. Soft, gentle cooing that stopped the moment Depth Charge opened the car door. He was a little surprised to see him back there, but then again, he doubted both of them would have fit comfortably in the front seat.

“That was fast.” X greeted.

He responded with a short wave. Not much more. He was still trying to figure out how to tell X that they’d have to administer an amnesiac, and say goodbye to them.

X looked back down to the comparatively small form, half in his arms, half in his lap. “This is Depth Charge. You’re going to love him.” He explained.

The kid looked up. Wide eyed.

“Depth Charge?” They repeated. 

It wasn’t going to be a fun conversation… 

Depth Charge lifted the cage, up into the back. He started fastening it down, when his attention was drawn back to them. 

Under proper lighting, he finally noticed something.

“Oh… they’re not human.” Depth Charge observed. Well that changed some things.

“You didn’t notice..?” X sounded a bit surprised. 

“Well yeah, kinda hard to make out the fine details in the dark, X.” The agent hooked the box into place, and climbed in. Closing the door behind him, so he could get a better look. 

The claws and fins were a dead give away. 

“Looks like they could be one of your species.” he looked back down at the injured leg. Quite bruised, and still rather bloodied. “Wait, if they’re like you, why are they still hurt?” Depth Charge questioned, as he began looking for the medical kit he had tucked away somewhere back there. 

“Hm… it's significantly more healed than when I found them, but still slow…” X mused. “I think they are more human than I am. They smell like that, anyway.” X offered. 

They looked between Depth Charge and X. Curious, but not too troubled by the conversation, thankfully. Their attention was soon stolen away by messing with a fin on X’s arm. Pulling it open and closed, while X was trying his best not to flinch, and twist too much.

Depth Charge smiled at that for a moment. He doubted X would even let _him_ do that. Those were sensitive.

__

__

“They look more human too… or… maybe that's just because they have a face.” Depth Charge commented.

Not that Depth Charge knew what X’s face might have looked like. He had grabbed all the files on X that he could, but there were never any pictures enclosed. Never. And he had discreetly taken A LOT. Anything with his name on it, and then some. If it mentioned a giant fish man, or a helmet, the agent stole it. All for research, in his goal of eventually clearing X’s name of his crimes, and get him permission to live off facility grounds. 

In his research, others of the species were only vaguely mentioned, mostly in hypotheticals, and only in passing. He’d had many siblings, he knew that. But X had been lucky to hatch at all. Most of the clutch simply hadn’t survived to that point, thanks to the poor conditions, and the experimentation. Others dropped off along the way at the hand of compromised immune systems. The lack of understanding of the species at the time hardly helped.

Depth Charge genuinely didn’t think they would ever see another of his kind - in fact, Depth Charge was certain X _was_ the last of his kind. 

“They also smell like Omicron…” X continued with a growl. 

Shit…

“We’re going to keep them, right..?” X asked hopefully.

Rugby was deeply connected to Omicron. Sure, all the scientists that directly worked on X’s project were dead, but it was still a fifty fifty he’d be tossing them right into a life of torture. 

He’d have to test the waters. Tread carefully. Figure out if it was safe.

Depth Charge shrugged. Finally continuing to root through his stashed medical supplies, for bandages. “I don’t think we really have a choice.” 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This took forever for a bunch of reasons! But with my laptop fixed, and muse restored, I'm hoping I'll be able to finish up the series by the end of the year!
> 
> Also! the fic doesn't have a placeholder name anymore! After much consideration, I have decided I needed to continue this awful naming convention I settled on.

Depth Charge jumped when X suddenly swept up behind him. Large arms wrapped loosely around him, head coming to rest atop his as he came to observe what he’d been up to. Suddenly he was enveloped in a wonderfully warm embrace. The figure behind him quietly purring, as he watched.

Likely purring, due to the opportunity to bother him, rather than what Depth Charge was actually doing, because, well, it was hardly interesting. He was just standing at the stove, reading the directions on a package of bacon. Had it been another chef, perhaps it would have been exciting. But alas, he was hardly that. 

“You’re so easy to scare.” X informed with a delighted hum.

“Am not.” 

“Are too, I wasn’t even trying!”

“You didn’t scare me, you surprised me. There’s a difference.” Depth Charge argued.

Had it been a month prior, Depth Charge’s reaction would have been far more severe. The first time X had tried to sneak up on him for a hug, X ended up flat on his ass, with a phone brandished to his throat, as if it were a passible weapon. Since then, thanks to X’s persistence, Depth Charge’s reflexes had been dulled. 

The agent tried to reassure himself that was a good thing. 

“What are you making? We could smell it from the living room.” X rumbled. The pan on the stove was empty. He clarified by pointing to the partially opened package Depth Charge had in his hands.

Depth Charge had intended for the homemade breakfast to be a bit of a surprise, but with two monsters in the house, both with very keen senses of smell, there would be little he could sneak past them now.

“Bacon. You’ve had it before. They’re meat strips” He informed, prepping the pan, as per the instructions. 

With the explanation, X reached over the human. Slowly, waiting for Depth Charge to shoot him down. When he wasn’t stopped, he selected a piece, and promptly tossed it into his mouth with a loud snap of his jaws, that - again - made Depth Charge jump.

“Delicious!” X exclaimed, before making another grab for the package. 

“No, just wait. It tastes better when it’s cooked.” 

“Doubtful.” X grumbled quietly as his claws retreated. He paused, as if thinking it over, then reached right back out. Lighting fast this time.

Depth Charge had barely enough time to stop the attempt with a swiftly administered smack on the hand. He moved the package out of X’s reach, and tried to find his place on the recipe he’d been reading.

“Your cooking is quite bad, you know.” X informed. Relocating his helmet to the man’s shoulder. “I like the raw ones.”

“I’d like to see you do better.” Depth Charge muttered. Quickly moving along to put some of the bacon in the pan, before X could eat too many. 

“Oh I’m sure I could! I’d just leave it raw. Wrap it around fish, like a burrito.” Depth Charge shuddered at the idea of such a bastardization of food. A response that X absolutely loved, judging by the gleeful cackle that followed. 

“Whatever, I’ll make a few, if you like it, I’ll make the rest. If it’s bad, then sure. Have at it.” With that, he set it down. 

He hoped the compromise would be enough, but when Depth Charge looked away from the package for only a moment to crack the eggs into the pan, he heard X snap his jaws closed once again. 

“X!” 

“Mmm… definitely would be good with fish.” X reviewed smuggly. He responded to the look it earned him with more self satisfied purring. 

And while Depth Charge was looking X in the face, he took the opportunity, and snatched two more pieces. This time going as far as to brandish the raw meat, and his sleight of hand proudly, before swiveling away to escape with his prize. 

“No, that's it! No more! You’re banned from the kitchen!” The agent snapped, chasing the monster out. “Two, X? Really?” Depth Charge continued, shouting over the obnoxious laughter.

“One’s for Transmutate, of course!” X provided his reasoning, as he disappeared into the living room. Stating it if it were obvious. 

“Ugh! Fine. But that's it, no more!” 

Depth Charge heard the laughing grow more distant, until finally it was replaced with muffled sounds of X talking. Content that he wouldn’t try anything further, he turned back to the pan. Grimacing as he saw it had evolved into a yellow puddle with bacon adrift in it. 

He moved to try and separate it, before the eggs were too solidified, and the bacon was properly encased, but he was stopped by his phone ringing. He glanced between the two time sensitive matters, internally calculating the risk, and then promptly picked up his phone.

He had time.

* * *

The call was merely a confirmation. Depth Charge had decided a trip down to Omicron was necessary, so, following X’s lead, he scheduled a walk through. Hoping he could trace Transmutate’s origin.

Their communication with them was shaky at best - they didn’t seem to have the best grasp on the language. What they could convey, was vague, and attempts to push them for more information just made them upset. Something X refused to allow.

Depth Charge wanted to know how they escaped, where they came from, what was done to them - and if applicable, what was being done with the rest of X’s species. Things he couldn’t get out of a child. 

His lie to get into Omicron through the lock down was that he wanted to check for possible security breaches X may have caused, that could explain the (very slight) increase in monster activity. He was anticipating having to sacrifice a tidbit of information about Transmutate to be accepted, but by some miracle, he wasn’t denied. Perhaps it was his boss still trying to make up for his lack of official involvement on X’s case. Perhaps it was simply desperation, and she thought he could uncover something previously missed. After all, X’s trail had gone cold quite abruptly, and at the moment, there was no agreed upon theory. Some thought he fled into the ocean. Others feared he’d been kidnapped, or captured by an unaffiliated organization. At this point, even the slightest of hints were invaluable. 

Depth Charge was almost proud of how unexpectedly well they’d given Rugby the slip. It was unintentional, but impressive…

The call had been reminding him he had to be at Omicron in one hour. The call had also informed him of something mildly troubling: his boss would be accompanying him. He had no idea why, or how, she would take on field work. But it meant Depth Charge would either have to be sneakier, or have good excuses. The latter of which hardly being what he was known for. 

He would essentially get free reign of the facility, as X had searched every single corner, however with someone very well informed present, he probably wouldn’t be able to get into the more secure rooms - the rooms Depth Charge suspected Transmutate must have escaped from.

It would be tricky, but he always managed.

Suddenly the agent was jolted from staring at his phone and pacing when he heard a shriek from Transmutate. In barely a moment Depth Charge bolted out of the kitchen. By the time he made it to the living room, he almost felt stupid for being so startled. 

Transmutate was giggling. X had his face buried in their stomach, making silly noises, while his hands were preoccupied by tickling. Mercifully gentle, despite those horribly sharp claws. The two of them had begun laughing so hard he was certain the neighbors could hear - and the purring! He could hear it from the doorway. X’s, the familiar low rumble. Transmutate’s, something a bit stranger. A weird gurgling hum that Depth Charge hadn’t been able to recognize as a purr at first.

They were safe, 

They were happy.

Depth Charge took a deep breath. Trying to ease the residual tension. Leaning into the doorframe to watch the two of them. 

He had no idea where X had learned to handle kids so well, but the two of them were doing quite a good job for people who had never even babysat. X seemed to know exactly what they needed, and exactly how to entertain them, while Depth Charge was quite proficient with doing the actual care stuff - the cover of Rugby being an animal rescue led to some useful skills being picked up, like wound care, and… no. Just wound care. 

Still, they were making it work. 

Depth Charge had sacrificed an old sweater branded with a school logo that barely fit him, and gave it to Transmutate. It was bunched up all the way at the sleaves, and hung on them like a dress, but X insisted it was adorable, and actually argued about getting them baby clothes. Apparently too attached to the idea of poorly fitted shirts stolen from the back of Depth Charge’s closet being Transmutate’s sole wardrobe.

Oh, and that too. X saw fit to give them that name - Transmutate. Some comment about being a combination of human and whatever X was. Depth Charge was fairly certain he’d gotten it from tv.

Perhaps unconventional, but at the end of the day, they were good at playing dads. Depth Charge was confident that the two of them could take care of them, despite his initial reservations. The only problem was safety. One monster being housed was a risk. Someone could see something they weren’t supposed to. With two present? That risk was doubled. Depth Charge didn’t think he could keep this up forever. Their luck would run out sooner or later. 

He lived in a suburb. There is only so much sneaking out they could get away with. What happened when they were discovered? Pick everything up and run? Would it be safer to toss both of them into the ocean, and hope for the best? Or would it be better to try to argue their innocence and push for proper treatment? 

“Quit that, you’re making everything taste sour.” X called over abruptly. 

Depth Charge blinked. Looking up in confusion before answering. “Uhh… sour is which one again..?” The purring and playing had stopped. Their moods so heavily affected by his own. 

X turned away for a moment, thinking. Probably trying to remember the name of the emotion - despite his ability to sense them so clearly, he was lacking in the ability to name most of them.

“... one of the bad ones… worry?” He looked over to Transmutate, as if looking for confirmation. But they were just staring up at X. Clearly waiting for him to just resume their playing.

“Worry.” He stated louder, more confidently. Coming to the conclusion himself. 

“You need to stop worrying.” He advised. Then he was getting up, walking closer. His purring had resumed. Depth Charge had just enough insight to worry a bit more, with how his tone shifted. “Yeah, relax.” He continued, mere moments before jolting forwards to snatch the human’s neck into a loose headlock, with alarming speed.

“WHAT?!” Depth Charge shouted in shock. X started cackling in delight, and Transmutate was staring. Wide eyed with a slight smile. Unsure, but amused. 

“You’re a bad influence!” Depth Charge growled, only to be perhaps an even worse influence, as he retaliated. He swung to elbow X in the gut, then shifted his posture to grab X, and toss the monster over his shoulder. Safely onto the loveseat, of course. 

But X - as usual - saw it coming. 

He took the elbow like a champ. Grunting out a quiet ‘ow’, but didn’t even budge. And when Depth Charge began the pulling motion, X just let go. Only to snatch him up in his arms, in a different manner. One arm under the knees, the other behind the back. Scooped up with minimal effort.  
Depth Charge was too surprised, and exasperated to struggle any longer. He just sighed, and begrudgingly settled into X’s arms. as he was lifted up. Internally justifying that he wasn’t fighting, just because it would hurt quite a bit to fall from this height. 

Transmutate started giggling when Depth Charge let out a huff. 

X dropped himself onto the loveseat unceremoniously, looking smug as can be. Depth Charge still cradled tight against him. 

“Aw… you like being held.” X declared, prodding the man’s side with a claw. “What? No kicking? You’re going soft, old friend!” Depth Charge didn’t even bother arguing. He just gave a weak willed glare, and a “Shut up.”

Deciding they were settled down, and no longer dangerous, Transmutate hopped off their chair, safely, onto one leg, then limped over to them. Looking over the arrangement curiously. 

“Care to join us?” X asked.

They nodded quickly. Pointing a claw to the cozy looking gap between both of them, and the couch with big hopeful eyes. 

While X was preoccupied, wondering how he would manage with his hands full. Depth Charge angled back, and reached down. Grabbing them from under their arms, and soon after, carefully placing them into their chosen nook. Using Depth Charge’s leg as a pillow, and X’s shoulder as a footrest (not that he seemed to mind the treatment in the slightest). 

Depth Charge was warm, and comfortable, and surrounded by happy purring. That, combined with the fact he hadn’t finished his coffee yet, it only took him a minute or so to start drifting off. Only to be interrupted by X.  
“I think breakfast is burning.” 

Depth Charge groaned. 

He couldn’t smell it, and the smoke alarms weren’t going yet, which was good, but there was absolutely no way it was still edible. Not with how long it had gone forgotten. 

With another reiterated groan, he hauled himself up. 

Moments later, Depth Charge was looking down at the pan in his hand with a grimace. Scrambled eggs with a side of bacon was the idea, but right now it just looked like… some sort of egg crust. 

There were strips of bacon in there somewhere - he assumed - he was uncertain of what their fate must have been. But… bacon was supposed to cook longer than eggs. Perhaps the bacon would be fine, despite the eggs being pretty smokey and decidedly brown. The agent was not easily deterred. 

He took a fork and a knife to the dried up mass to try and excavate, to salvage what he could. It was only after he carved it apart thoroughly, that he accepted that there wasn’t actually any bacon in the pan. He hadn’t encountered a single crumb, despite the chunks the egg was now cut into. 

He blinked in confusion. Glancing to the empty package to his left. 

Ok it definitely shouldn’t have been empty, he only used a quarter of the package. 

“X? Did you eat the rest of the bacon?”

“I did. Well, Transmutate helped.” Came the cheery reply from the other room where X was back to entertaining Transmutate. “I was right, the raw ones were better than the cooked ones.” 

Depth Charge put his head in his hand and just sighed. It must have happened while he was on the phone… he turned back to the stove. At least it hadn’t gone to waste. But… How someone so big could be so sneaky when he wanted, was beyond him. 

He bitterly scraped the charred remains of breakfast into the garbage, before heading on over to the pile of take out restaurant menus. Sifting through them, to figure out what would take the least amount of time. 

“Pizza for breakfast it is.” Depth Charge announced, setting the rest of the pile down while he flipped through it. 

“Oh, I thought it was eggs for breakfast.” X teased. 

The agent glanced at the pan which was still lightly smoking. “Yeah, well shut up, its pizza now. What do you want on it?”

“Is fish an option?”

“Anchovies?” DC paused, with a grimace. There was enough fish in his house. Any more, and he thought his whole street would start to smell like the ocean. “Absolutely not. Finish the fish you already have in the fridge.” 

“Aw… no fun... Just cheese then.” X conceded. 

Depth Charge found his way to the couch as he placed his order. Dropping himself onto it. The seat was vacated in favor of a pillow tossed onto the floor. Meaning it was fair game. The agent thought over joining them for a few seconds before deciding against it. Between the two of them, he’d be trapped there. 

So he settled in. Idly watching X fumble with the tv remote in an attempt to put something on for them. By the time the doorbell had rung, X had just completed a rant about the amount of buttons on the remote. He went still for a moment, then shot a hopeful look to Depth Charge.

“You know the drill.” Depth Charge prompted, as he rose. 

“Don’t be seen, don’t be heard.” X finished the thought with ease. Moving to watch the agent walk off, before turning to enthusiastically fill Transmutate in on what was happening. Depth Charge smiled all the way on his walk to the door, once again internally musing on how well X was handling this. 

The smile vanished the second he opened the door.

Standing there was an unfortunately familiar face. Staring back at him with the same exact look of confusion and disbelief. It was Silverbolt. Bandaged hand, stupid nametag, and all. And he was holding their pizzas. Because of course he was. 

They locked eyes for what felt like an eternity before Depth Charge gathered his thoughts, and then promptly shared them. 

“You’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” He said, and then decided to slam the door shut in Silverbolt’s face. 

“Wait- WAIT wait - your pizza!” Silverbolt yelped, as he stuck his entire leg into the door - effectively taking the entire door to the knee, and somehow seeming unphased. 

“I changed my mind, I don’t want it.” Depth Charge grunted as he shifted to force all of his weight into the door to try and force Silverbolt out, but alas, he was properly wedged, and quite determined - “OW OW you’re going to break my knee!! Ow!” - or perhaps just stuck. 

Depth Charge reluctantly let up, allowing Silverbolt to pull his leg out. He kept the door open for a few moments longer just to make sure he hadn’t actually broken anything, which unfortunately left an opening for Silverbolt to once again try and talk to him. 

“Are you sure you don’t want your pizza..? They’re going to make me drive all the way back just to throw it away...” 

Depth Charge scowled in response, but he did have to admire the kid’s dedication. Begrudgingly, he reached for his wallet. 

“$20 right?” 

“Yeah.” 

“I’m not tipping because you tried to break in.” 

“I didn’t -... alright…” 

Silverbolt took the cash, and promptly passed the pizza along with a relieved sigh. Depth Charge started to close the door, when Silverbolt once again insisted on forcing his way in, with a foot crammed into the door. 

“Wait - Excuse me sir, is the child safe?”

“Ugh, this is absolutely trespassing - I can call the cops on you, you know?”

“-And I can tell them that you assaulted me! Sorry, I just want to make sure they’re alright.” Silverbolt pushed against the door slightly. “Please? They got hurt because of me, they’re my responsibility too…” Even without seeing Silverbolt’s face, Depth Charge could just tell he was getting teary eyed. Again, he scowled. 

“Its none of your business! They’re not your responsibility! Now get out!” The agent stated, shoving the door. This time, kind of hoping he did end up breaking something. 

Depth Charge glanced to the pizza boxes balanced precariously in his free hand, and quickly tried to deposit them onto the counter before he dropped them. He leaned over, he put them down, he got a clear view of X staring at him with interest from the living room.

“Are you… fighting him for the pizza..?” X theorized with a chuckle in his voice. Then Transmutate laughed at something, and all at once, Silverbolt pulled away, letting Depth Charge slam the door shut for good. He locked it, for good measure, before moving up to look through the peephole. 

On the other side, Silverbolt looked way too pleased for someone who had just gotten slammed in a door twice. A ridiculous smile from ear to ear, and with that, he walked off. Leaving Depth Charge with the very real concern, that they would have to move.

With a loud groan, Depth Charge grabbed the pizza, and began walking it over to the two hungry monsters in the other room, who immediately descended upon the boxes the moment they touched the floor. 

“I can’t believe you made a delivery boy cry.” X accused mockingly, before he shoved most of a slice into his face with a single bite. Before Depth Charge even had a chance to say anything.

“That delivery boy was Silverbolt.” Depth Charge shot back, after a significant pause to make a face at the utter lack of table manners.

Transmutate was staring up at X, watching the demonstration, clearly taking notes as they cautiously grabbed for their own piece. Depth Charge was about to scold X for teaching them that - why, so they could choke?! But he was silenced when instead of struggling with mimicking the technique, they simply unhinged their jaw and - 

Depth Charge shuddered. Wishing internally that they could be slightly less gross when it came to food. He didn’t think it was asking for much. 

“Who..?” X finally asked after Depth Charge failed to elaborate. Apparently unaffected by the display that had distracted the agent. Depth Charge shook his head, tore his gaze away as Transmutate eagerly went for another slice, and just answered. 

“Silverbolt. The human you ran into last night on our hunt. Yeah. You attacked a guy that apparently also works at our pizza place - and he heard you two. Nice going.” 

“So he knows we’re here?” Came the next question. His prior amused nonchalance gone in an instant, as he cast a nervous glance to Transmutate, who was clearly feeding off the concern radiating off the two of them. Their enthusiasm for pizza vanished in an instant, despite probably not knowing what was happening. 

Depth Charge nodded, and he could practically see the gears turning in X’s head as the experiment quietly grumbled his rapidly developing annoyance. 

“We need to kill him.” He finally commented after a long moment. “We need to kill him before he talks.” He sounded so certain, and confident in his decision. He’d joked about such things before, but now he was dead serious. Depth Charge didn’t like how quickly he came to the solution.

“No, X, we’re not killing anyone.” The agent shot back, crossing his arms.

“Well what else can we do?” X retorted. “Wait and hope?”

“I - I don’t know right now. I’ll see if we can move. There will be a trail, but it’ll be an improvement - I’ll figure it out later. I wasted too much time, I need to go to work.” 

X looked the floor and grumbled some more. 

“If he comes back, I will take care of him.” X promised with a defiant tone in his voice, but at the moment, Depth Charge didn’t really feel like wasting more time arguing. He doubted Silverbolt would act so soon anyway - he hoped not, at least. For all of their sakes.

* * *

By the time Depth Charge arrived at Omicron, his boss was already standing on the front step, arms crossed. Waiting for him. He was late, thanks to the Silverbolt incident - which was becoming a common occurrence. His previous track record noticeably tarnished, thanks to X and the delays he tended to cause. 

“Traffic?” She supplied, and the agent decided to go along with it with a short nod. 

The building behind her was dark. The parking lot was totally empty, aside from their own cars. Fallen leaves, dangerously looming branches, overgrown grass… it had gone unkept for quite some time. He supposed it had to. It wasn’t like they could let innocent people in, while there were genuine monsters unsupervised in the basement. 

Depth Charge let out an apprehensive sigh, and started walking. “So, how’d you manage to clear your schedule for field work?” 

“With difficulty.” She grumbled back. There was a significant pause. Depth Charge made note of the evasion despite not really knowing what to make of it. “Everyone wants to know where X went, yet no one wants to risk going back here.” She changed the subject. Turning, to lead him up to the door. Key in hand. 

“You know, I could’ve gone it alone.” 

“‘Going it alone’ is how you got trapped here, remember? Its also why your medical bills are so high.” She sternly replied back, going as far as to shoot him a sharp look along with it. “You could use a partner.”

Depth Charge groaned internally. “Partners have done nothing but slow me down.” He replied easily - unthinkingly. Even X slowed him down, and he was a masterful tracker. The day she could give him a partner that could show up X, would be the day he’d concede on that. 

She gave him an even sharper look. 

“Its true. I mean even you’re gonna slow me down. I work best alone.” Perhaps that last part wasn’t true. X had made captures incredibly efficient. 

She shook her head, rolled her eyes, and proceeded with unlocking the doors. Pushing them open and letting Depth Charge in. Immediately he started searching for clues. 

At first he only noticed the amount of dust - the place looked abandoned - but as the lights flickered on, he noticed a cluster of claw marks carved into the floor. About halfway through the lobby. Distinctly X, definitely from the night he escaped. 

He looked around more. Half hoping he got lucky and saw a smaller trail somewhere, but of course he wasn’t. He headed right for the elevator down. His boss trailing close behind - as if trying to make a point with keeping up. He would have regretted it, if the effect wasn’t so convenient for him.

She paused before sending them down the the lower level. 

“Gun?” she prodded

“Check.” Depth Charge pulled it from his hip. Taking a moment to check the chamber, then lowered it back to his side.

She nodded, and opened the elevator panel, popping the key in there. Sending them down. He did not appreciate the flickering lights in the slightest, but steeled himself despite it. 

Logically he knew it just wouldn’t do to leave all that blood and gore on the floor to fester, yet when the doors opened to nothing of the sort, Depth Charge let out a held breath. There was a lingering bad smell that could be from anything, but nothing visibly wrong. Well… no, that was incorrect. Some smashed tiles here and there. Evidently, X had been swift and brutal. He shuddered. 

“Sure you’re up for this?” The question came so suddenly that Depth Charge flinched. 

“Yeah, of course I am. Lets just get moving.” and just like that, he was walking. Quickly, he didn’t want to have to see whatever sympathetic look she gave him. He was up for this, but with the way his heart was racing, he knew they’d have to make it quick. So he made a b-line for the area of most suspect: X’s torture chamber. 

He remembered the path well. He’d spent too much time mentally jotting it down to have forgotten it so soon. A left, walk to a little past the security room, open the wide grey door that by no means managed to properly indicate a staircase was behind it. He was hurrying. He wasn’t really looking around as much as someone looking for a security breach should be. 

Once they were down there, he started looking around in proper. Slowing his pace to look through each window carefully. Pulling his flashlight from his belt, to shine light through every window. His boss was following behind him a few feet back, a little too preoccupied with examining the residual bloodstains marring the tiles to notice when the agent in front of him abruptly stopped. She bumped into him with a noise of surprise, and was quick to follow Depth Charge’s gaze, to see what the fuss was all about. 

It was the room to their right. They could see right through the glass observation windows, into the lab. It was the room he took such a keen note of when X led him down there. A testing room of some sort, with messy piles of folders, equipment sparsely distributed across the tables. At the time, its most significant feature had been the guns it held, but now his attention was rather drawn to the shelves upon shelves of creatures, and organs, suspended in solution. Most importantly… Strange, blue liquid, spilled onto the floor in massive quantities, practically flooding the room. 

That definitely wasn’t there last time. 

Depth Charge took a step closer, almost flush into the window. Shining his light back and forth carefully. Upon further inspection, there were claw marks on almost every surface. Some of the folders were strewn about on the floor, dumped uncaringly, and from the look of the damages on them, resorted to for food. 

“Whatever was in there is probably gone, now…” Depth Charge informed. He offered no reasoning. He just knew it had to be Transmutate, yet the possibility of it being something else remained. “Can you get this door open? We should double check.” 

“Yes. Go on in, I’ll lock it behind you.” She stated, swiping her card across the keypad. The lock disengaged with a click. Depth Charge looked back to her with a harsh look. He’d wanted to do this alone, yes, but alone, and locked in was a bit much.

“No. You are not locking me in there.” 

“And what is the alternative you’re proposing? Leave it open, and risk something escaping?”

“You have a gun! You can use it. Just make sure nothing gets past you.” He argued.

“Depth Charge. Just get in there.” She ordered with finality. 

The agent glared for a moment longer. Then reluctantly moved to the door, even more reluctantly breaking eye contact. He stepped inside, pulling the door shut behind him. Internally cringing when he heard the door’s lock engaged with a heavy sounded clunk. In a way it was relieving to know that nothing could break that lock - even X had to resort to other means. But it did leave Depth Charge quite trapped. 

Oh, how he hated this…

He reached for the light switch. Relieved when the lights turned on without any fanfare or flickering. The room was far less foreboding when illuminated by 40 or 50 fluorescent bulbs. Just a messy lab, where a very nice kid came from. That was all. Still, when he finally advanced, it was with his gun drawn, and held before him at the ready. 

He peaked in between shelving units. Carefully examined each cluttered shelf. Cautiously prodded anything that could serve as a nest - he even kept a careful watch on the ceiling panels. Though as he turned his back on the shelves, he noticed the busted grate on the fume hood. Like something had clawed through it, and went into the ventilation… something small, definitely.

Stepping over a puddle of that odd blue liquid, he approached it, climbing up onto the table to get a closer look. Sure was Transmutate sized! The grate was ripped up messily. He could only imagine how difficult it must have been, sure, Transmutate had sharp claws, but… they were still just the size of a toddler… Streaks of that blue liquid were rubbed off onto it where their hands scrambled against it. No clear hand prints, but… - He shone his light back to the floor. - The footprints were clearly theirs. 

So that answered the question of who. That just left how, where, and why. 

It took a total of four steps towards the back of the room to answer two out of three of his questions.

It was a gigantic tube, mounted onto the wall, and large enough to fit at least three humans his size, and still half full of that odd blue ooze, under where the break was. Shredded up cables dangled freely on the inside. Depth Charge guessed either for feeding, or monitoring. 

Depth Charge carefully stepped over some broken glass, and spilled ooze, setting his feet on a taller stack of knocked over papers to at the very least keep his boots dry. He examined the tables next to it for any documentation that could be of use. Most of it was too torn up, or too soaked to be legible, but the header ‘Hatch #43’ on a packet REALLY caught his eye from under the discoloring mess of liquid. ‘Genetic sample’ appeared a few times. ‘Subject: X’ considerably more so. 

Briefly he wondered how many different ‘hatches’ there were between X, and Transmutate. 

Then towards the bottom of the page he saw ‘subject moved to harvest room’ and couldn’t suppress a shudder as the implications hit him. He turned around quickly. Shining a light into the shelves of organs suspended in solution. Shit, those probably belonged to X, right? He shifted his flashlight over. The smaller creatures. Fuck, and those were probably failed hatches, right? 

He really needed to get out of here. 

As the thought hit him, there was a sudden banging that nearly made Depth Charge jump out of his skin. His gun shot up to where the noise came from before he recalled his boss patiently waiting outside. 

He needed to get a move on. 

Depth Charge looked back down. One last cursory look to see if he could snatch anything for his collection of stolen documents, before he hopped back over the sprawling mess of solution on the floor, and headed back towards the door. His boss was peering through the glass, face up against the glass, clearly trying to find some sign he was alive in there. She let out a sigh when she saw him, and moved to unlock the door after he gave a quick thumbsup. 

“All clear.” he reported immediately. He must have sounded shaken, because that patronizing look of concern came back.

“All that, for all clear? What took so long?”

“Listen, that room is freaky… I wanted to be thorough. Whatever was in there before is gone now - a giant test tube was broken out of, and whatever escaped went through the fume hood, so it could be anywhere in the lower levels, but the scratch marks on the inside make it look like it just headed straight up.”  
He cringed internally when he thought about that, he was pretty sure the vent for that was on the roof… He didn’t like the idea of Transmutate trying to safely get down from there… 

“Hm. I’ll put out an alert, and get some equipment ready to survey the vents - but… really? What took so long, I couldn’t see you in there.” And Depth Charge saw a chance there. An opportunity. 

“I… I think that room was for organ harvesting.” He answered bluntly.

She just blinked.

“More specifically, X organs… Shelves and shelves of them. No wonder he wanted out so bad.” A look back at her face, and he sensed he made a wrong move. The concern was gone. She was just staring with a hard look. He tried to continue, to make her understand. “I mean… imagine how much that must hurt. He regrows them, but to live with only one lung? With a missing intestine? That's horrible.” Not even a shift. He dropped it, succeeding in nothing but making himself feel worse.

“The research on X was going to save lives. If that comes at the cost of one monster, I can live with that.” She responded, and… Depth Charge knew he would have agreed before he actually met X. He decided not to correct her and say there were at least 40 other monsters that it came at the cost of, but that seemed a bit too classified to just blurt out. 

“I think we need to call the investigation here.” That definitely surprised her. He found what he came for, and truth be told, felt a little nauseous on top of it. “That was way too much for me. We should call it, and resume with a bigger team.”

“Whatever happened to you ‘work best alone’?”

“Whatever happened to ‘you need to take care of yourself’?” She actually cracked a smile at that. “Besides, maybe some help wouldn’t be too bad… I’d feel more comfortable in an abandoned facility filled with monsters, with some more people with guns watching my back.” 

She gave a heavy sigh, and looked down to her watch. “Alright.” Another sigh. “Alright, lets get going then. We’ll reschedule a week out, so we have time to do a scan of the vents.” 

Depth Charge nodded, and started to lead them back out. He was distracted. He couldn’t stop thinking about what X had been put through, and what Transmutate would have been put through.


End file.
